This and that and the other Things

Hello all, its way past the 6 week mark for updating since my last post there was a  little of this, little of that and some other things.

I hope you summer has gone well and you are enjoying the last few weeks well so far.  Hopefully you got in on some some camping, fishing, swimming, drinking lemonade and eating watermelon.  I imagine parents are busy getting kids ready for the return to school.

Here in Tagaytay, our Summer ended in June, and we are enjoying the rainy season now, and.... I.... love it!! the weather is cooler than our intense summer heat was.  In Manila the rain is just a sort of humid wetness but here in Tagaytay the air actually cools off, its wonderful! some nights I have my fan set to the lowest setting instead of highest, and during cool afternoons I sometimes don't have it on at all.  I am even drinking tea in the afternoons and we have had hot chocolate several times for our afternoon snack time. 
                                                     
                                                         Merienda (snack time) of hot chocolate and pancakes

Everyone has been back in school for awhile now.   Getting the younger girls back to school required a lot of arrangements such as sorting supplies, shopping and last minute things.   The day after the kids went back to school they told us they needed to make name tags, so I was hand making name tags at 8 O'clock at night.  One of our youngest little residents has started kindergarten, she loves it! and seriously so cute in her uniform.

I have been uncovering my teaching skills, and have found I quite like helping kids and teens with homework.  I feel that my homeschooling background helped me with this. 

 A few weeks ago our oldest child was learning her times tables, I was quizzing her on them which brought back memories of when I was struggling to learn them.  I found myself finding lots of tricks to help teach her since I had struggled so much with them when I was young.

                                        Liz, Chesa and Emma, our three ALS (alternative learning system) students

                                        High school and one of our college girls heading out in the morning

                                              Elementary girls off to school hand in hand

I have been learning how to de-lice.  I used to be freaked out about lice before I came to the Philippines and now its just part of life, I have gotten it a few times here and realize its not as horrifying as I once thought.  Its just a thing you get and a thing you get rid of.  when I had my lice one of the girls used to brush them out every few nights,  I was actually kind of sad when they were all gone as I loved having someone brush my hair.  Two of the kids had them pretty bad so I was picking and brushing them out and then finally used some shampoo that was sent from the USA.  (the stuff here doesn't work) One Saturday I drenched their heads in shampoo and the following week did the same.  It seemed to do the trick for now.

I have continued to help out with admin stuff here at safe as needed, I also check lots of Blood pressures as two of  staff are high blood.  I am learning lots about how to deal with conflict among the girls.  The kids are a lot easier for me to deal with, some days they seem to be at each other's throats, just like normal siblings.  One night a few weeks ago was specifically bad and it seemed I was constantly telling kids to apologize to each other.  I had just finished reading a novel where a father talks to his son about how he made Jesus unhappy with something that he did, I thought that was a such a corny way to discipline a child and then all the sudden I found myself doing it, it actually worked really well.

Baking continues, I think if I missed a Friday baking event there might be a mutiny! Our Fridays are our fellowship and we typically watch movies, but one of the other staff and I decided to start adding games to each night, This has resulted in a lot of laughing and enjoyment, the girls absolutely love games

                                                                  

I have gotten to spend some time with a few of the girls one to one, some times just hanging out, other times letting them talk through things.   We have a new resident! code name Liz and her two year old daughter Lilly.  Its fun having a toddler in the house and everyone dots on her, Liz is so sweet and because she doesn't speak much English she is proving to be one of my greatest teachers since it forces me to speak and form sentences in Tagalog.  She speaks slowly and waits for me to translate the words in my head so I find her an easy person to practice my Tagalog with.
                                             
                                           

Liz and Lilly! our newest addition to our family!  

I was involved with some Dr. checkups and took one of our teens to the dentist, which was probably a mistake since they charged my way more than they did when one of our Tagalog ates took some of the girls a few weeks before.  The reason probably being the colour of my skin.  White equals money so I am often overcharged for things.  But I was grateful I got to be there for Meggie as she got two of her teeth pulled, they were too far gone to be filled.  It was the first time I had ever taken anyone to the dentist and it was much harder to watch than I thought.  I had to look away a few times as the dentist struggled to pull the teeth out.  We went for ice cream after which was a nice silver lining to the event.

We are still looking for a lot where we can one day build a bigger house but so far nothing has been quite right.  Its hard to find property in our budget as land is crazy expensive here.  So we continue to pray for the right place.  We have struggled with water leaks, leaky roofs and plumbing issues in our current home.  We had leaks that went undetected for so long that our water bill shot up so high, the water company asked us if we had a swimming pool.  we got that leak fixed but several leaks kept popping up.  But the Lord provides.

Bible studies and worship time are always an important part of the week for the girls, one of our staff will bring us altogether, we sing, study God'd words or the girls will share what God has taught them lately.  It is often an important time for them and their healing journey.  They all really have a heart of worship and it is so precious seeing them Praise their Father.  ate Charisa and ate Grace do group sessions every week, also a an excellent tool in helping the girls with their healing and growing.

I have had some interesting "Vienna moments" lately.  One rainy dreary morning I headed to the grocery store to get ingredients to make hot chocolate.  We also needed fabric softener so I  said I could get it when I went out.  I was also out of coffee and was feeling the loss of my ritual of a cup of coffee before I started the day, so I was a little on the grumpy side.  I chose to go to the closer grocery store and took the two different public transportation to get there.  Despite the fact it was closer I had forgotten how things were a little more expensive at that store, which kind of put me off but anyway, I bought my things and headed back.  The rain had stopped and I didn't feel like waiting for the public jeep so I thought I would walk to the intersection where I would take just one ride home.  I finally made it back and began to empty my begs I pulled the fabric softener out and then and only then did it hit me that the saleslady had packed two begs for me.  But only had one beg. the fabric softener.  The hot chocolate ingredients and coffee had been left behind.  How I had not noticed that I was only carrying fabric softener while I walked more than a half mile is beyond me. Utterly frustrated I went back outside hailed a tricy and paid the extra to get me a little closer to the grocery, it took me as far as it was allowed and I marched the rest of the way chastising myself the whole way.  Before I even entered the door the security guard (every major store, mall, has a security guard inside each entrance) spotted me and exclaimed "Mam! your grocery!" I smiled, at that moment I admit I appreciated that my foreign look distinguished me enough that they remembered who I was and therefore there was no need to show my receipt.  I retrieved my grocery, again took the transportation back and by the time I returned to safe Lunch was pretty much ready.  I spent my entire morning buying hot chocolate ingredients, coffee and fabric softener!  Fortunately after a cup of coffee the world seemed a little brighter.

Then a few weeks ago I took our newest resident for a Dr. follow up check with another staff member.  I was in charge of the money.  After we left we got medicine and headed back.  I took out all the documents from my purse when I returned and was telling ate Red about how it went and I took out one document that had a Dr. note on it. "This is great that they give this to us," I said.  After ate Red looked at it for a moment she said "I think you were supposed to give this to them." finally it dawned on me, I was supposed to give that document to the front desk and then pay the dr. fee!!! I had walked out of the medical center with out paying!!! granted I was raised in a country with universal health care, so paying at a hospital or medical centre isn't exactly a reflex for me.  Non the less, I was incredibly embarrassed! ate Red called the center, they said they had noticed they were missing a document.  I rushed back to the center, as much as one can rush with public transportation. did the walk of shame in front of all the patients to the receptionist desk.  the lady was good about it, I think she even found it rather amusing.  I said how sorry and embarrassed I was, paid and then left, thinking that maybe I should have apologized more than once, this thought was immediately followed  by "Vienna....you are so Canadian..."



I attended another workshop with ate Red and our social worker, working through the process for a referral system among faith based organization in the Philippines.  We headed to Manila at 4 AM arrived in Manila in good time then took rail transit to the workshop.  we were all exhausted as none of us had slept well the night before.  all three of us were functioning on about 3 hours of sleep.  But it was a good workshop, just very long, from 8:30 to past 5 PM.  As always it was nice to connect with other organizations with the same passions.  It was the third meeting we went to involving this process so I have started to get to know some of them.  Pretty much everyone is Filipino so it was all in Tagalog or Taglish.   This was really good for me and I was impressed with how much I was getting, but I was pretty done in by the end of day.  The trip back was long.  Ate Red parted ways to go to her place and Deni (the social worker and I) stuffed our selves into the LRT )one of the rail lines) it was during the rush hours and so it was wall to wall people.  By that time I was so tired I was starting to giggle.  We made it to Pasay where we waited for over an hour or so in line to get a bus and finally arrived back at safe around 11:30 at night.




We celebrated a few more birthdays which met more cake!  Watermelon cake and caramel cake

We had a teaching by our missionary from the states ate Charisa who is also a psychologist.  We had our staff meeting and celebrated another birthday!

I went to Manila again to talk to the company handling my visa, They had not been getting back to me and I was getting worried and frustrated so I knew I had to go in person to figure out what was going on with my missionary visa. After the 2.5 hour bus ride and navigating the MRT I met up with ate Red, we ate and headed to to the travel company all ready to have guns blazing.  When we arrived  the lady talked to the guy in immigration over the phone, gave me a quote of what I needed to pay (which is what I had been waiting for for months) and assured me my application had been submitted to Immigration.  It should be processed in about three months, she promised me a few other things and within 5 minutes we were out of there.  I realized that all of what was told me could have just been e-mailed to me, but where would the adventure be in  life if things were that easy.  At least it was all good news.  Ate Red and I had coffee together and then eventually went our separate ways.  For the first time in a long time there was no line up for the bus!! I arrived back at safe at 8 PM. 



So life continues, I am shocked that I have been here almost a year now.   I have gotten into a routine now and the fact that life has a kind of flow confirms that I really am coming to the 1 year mark, Everyone settles into culture differently and I find for me it takes about a year to feel comfortable and two years to feel established. Interestingly enough I think I have a harder time with the culture in Tagaytay than I did in Tabuk.  This is surprising as the culture in Tagaytay is actually much more western than in Tabuk.  But I have come to two reasons why I think this is.  One is that even though its more western its still the Philippines, so I might be in western culture mode and then all the sudden I will hit a Filipino cultural item and I will have to stop and think.  Because of the mix of western and Filipino cultures I find its hard to know where one stops and another begins, so there is more tripping up and having to check myself. But In Tabuk even though there is a variety of different tribal cultures it all feels very, well...Filipino.  Once you get the culture I find its easier to  sort of melt into it.  The other reason is that Tagaytay is a city, so although it has western themes those themes all have to do with city life. As most of you know I was raised in the country, in a ranching and logging community where everyone knows everyone, and I loved that way of living with every fiber of my being.  Hence I feel more natural in a more provincial living environment like Tabuk, its difficult to describe the rituals and things that are similar to country living in Canada and provincial living in the Philippines, but there is a similarity, something that gets into your blood, that cannot be described with mere words.

Speaking of which in about two and half weeks I will be heading to Tabuk for three weeks to volunteer at the midwife clinic and to have more meetings and planning strategies with ate Cheryl about starting the shelter in Tabuk.

There are days that are harder than others that's for sure, but there are days full of joy as well.  My every day life always varies, I know people often ask what it is that I do and my answer is typically "Whatever safe needs me to do" this means that my days vary a lot.  some of my activities are really not very glamorous, like waiting in line at banks and bus lines, writing up documents or handing out allowances.   But there are also times of playing with the children and giving them extra attention and talking to someone about their day at school or helping with an assignment.  Reading stories or having a tea party on my deck.   Its often hard to know how much of difference these things make but one of my prayers is always that God will use me the way he wants me.

As always I want to thank you all for your prayers.  I do not do this alone, it would be impossible, Of course God is over everything, but neither is it just be and God, its all of you, the ones who pray for this ministry, who partner in this ministry, the ones who helped prepare me for this journey.  I do not walk this road alone, you are all right there as well. God Bless you all!

until next time
The sheepishmidwife

Old things, new things and everything in between

Hello  all!
Hard to keep up with this thing called time, the weeks and months have gone by in such a blur it has caused me to get behind in a lot of my updating, I know I am well past my 6 week deadline, but here are some high lights!

The wheel 
Lately I have been having these cravings to drive.  I miss driving like crazy, the first time I came to the Philippines I missed it but not this much.  It might be because when I was back in Canada I did a lot more driving and my brother and I had our own car which was a wonderful feeling and I do miss that 2000 red oldsmobile and being to just take off whenever (provided my brother wasn't using it). But I think my missing the wheel also has to do with the fact that driving is the ultimate feeling of control and Independence.  I am not a control freak, never have been, but like most people I like to maintain a little bit of control in my life, and I loved the feeling of putting my foot on the gass and steering "Tim Bit" (at it was christened after much debate) wherever I wanted.  I loved filling it with gas, learning to check the oil, and how it looked after I gave it a good cleaning.  All wonderful feelings of control.  Basically I feel I have very, very little control in my life right now,  God has been stripping me of that.  Reminding me I have little control about the way things go on a daily bases.  I have this very strong sensation that I am not driving my own life, that God is, it is not a situation of "Jesus take the wheel" because Jesus doesn't really want me anywhere near the wheel. I don't even feel like I am in the front seat as that would make me too close to the navigation devices, no i am in the back seat, every once in awhile asking the driver where we are and the answer rends to be "You'll see" and when I ask and when I have think I have figured how long it will take to get to the next place, I am always in store for a surprise.  I know this is how God wants it and I also know there is more that God will need me to let go of....

So onto to the updates...

The rest of April went well, and went by fast, I continued to help with daily finances, and other activities, the summer started and we planned more activities, the girls started doing self defense classes again, we had some worship dance sessions, and ate Charisa and ate Grace did weekly group sessions.   As predicted I missed my Canadian home a lot knowing that lambing was happening and I was missing it.   Right after Passover Thursday I went through a massive homesick period, it all started when I described to someone how my mom often cooks lamb on the Passover.  And then I started thinking about lamb, and starting craving it with an impressive intensity.  That just kind of snow-balled into missing everything at lambing this time of year, and I still have a craving for lamb that is unlikely to be satisfied any time soon  But that's ok, homesickness makes me feel human and reminds me of the love I have for both of my dear countries.

 Easter did not pass without special attention here at Safe.  On Passover Thursday I organized a candlelight communion event,  using grape juice and soda crackers, we lit candles and took turns handing each other the fruit of the vine and the bread.  For some of the kids it was their first time taking communion so we explained what it meant, for one of the girls, it was wonderful to watch her solemn expression as she partook.  On the Friday We made hot cross buns, I am not a great bread maker and have never made hot cross buns before, but they tasted pretty good at the end of the day.  I taught those who wanted how to kneed the dough, and they all loved it, even the smallest child, even though her hands were too small to really kneed to I put my hands over hers and we did it together. Sunday morning one of the staff members and I hid Easter candy for kids and adults alike, it brought much joy and excitement!  Earlier that morning several girls went on a local missions trip with ate  Charisa and ate Grace.  They had an incredible experience and some of them even brought a woman to the Lord.  For those of us back at Safe we made resurrection buns! the kids helped to wrap the marshmallows around the dough and I explained several times that after cooking the marshmallow would disappear, but after they came out of the oven and they opened them up to reveal the empty tomb the little girls were rather disappointed to find no marshmallows inside, until I explained that all the gooieness on the outside was indeed the marshmallow.

 Kalinga and more Midwifery
The end of April brought some adventures as I headed to Tabuk for a few days for a wedding.  As always I was happy to greet life in Tabuk, even for just a few days.

I stayed at the clinic this time and and spent time with all my old friends.  The day I arrived several of us went out for shakes at of the best place to buy a mango or buko shakes in the area, (and the cheapest) and some siomi.  We stopped by some Ukay-Ukay (thrift ) shops on the way back, an activity I often did with with them in the past.
The next day I met ate Cheryl, (the woman who want to partner with Ellora and I to bring a shelter to Tabuk) Ellora video chatted in and we had a great meeting about the potential of teaming up to fulfill the calling that God has placed in all our hearts.  We confirmed we had the same vision and desire and it seems like we are going to make a great team! The timing of when this will come to pass is still unknown as there is much to do, but By God;s grace it will all be completed.  We already have a location to begin when the time comes.
                                           
                                        ate Cheryl and her husband Pastor Rod with myself near the their property

I then headed to my friend's (the bride) home town where preparations for the wedding the next day were taking place.  I was to be an usherette for the wedding, a role that looks a little different here in the Philippines than in Canada.   That night was the before party, which is typical for the culture in that area.  The couple start the dancing out, and then people pay to dance and all the money goes to the couple.  Mostly it consists of single men dancing with the single girls and someone sponsors each dance.   This can go on all night, and would have except that not many single women showed and many of them went home early so there were only about four of us dancing at the end and we were fading fast.  So the bride took pity on us and at around quarter to 2 AM put a stop to the dance requests.

We rested for a few hours after that and then arose to get ready for the wedding which would begin at 9 AM.   The rest of the usherettes arrived and we all got dressed and had our makeup done.  The bride looked gorgeous in her dress of lace! The wedding went well they got hitched without a hitch!  The other clinic staff (who were also ucherettes) and I took photos together while we waited for a ride back to the reception.  There was lots of food for our meal, though I admit I was so hot I didn't eat much, we did a little tribal dancing and all sat together.  One of the new students who had been one of our principle dancers the night before was there and she and I had bonded over the last 24 hours.  I was so happy I could be there at my friend's wedding, she herself is a midwife and taught me a lot when I was training under her in the past. 

We went back to Tabuk that afternoon, The next day one of my other midwife friends and I made plans to travel to Bugnay to see our friend who lives there and go see the the nearby falls.  It was one of those perfect days.  Spending time with good friends, swimming in the cool falls and then having a long siesta in the afternoon to the sound of falling rain.  I spent a lot of time in prayer that rainy afternoon just needing some time to soak everything in. 

The next day we headed back to Tabuk and that evening I traveled to Manila.

 I traveled with my friend's sister and her little son.  Somehow we had actually booked the wrong day, but thankfully there were two extra seats, so the three of us squished together for the 13 hour bus ride.   After arriving in Manila I managed to get a taxi to take me to the MRT (he charged me way more than he should have as par usual) but thankfully there was a McDonalds where he dropped me off, and I took time to eat some pancakes and gulp down some coffee....so good.  I arrived in Quezon city at the clinic, as was my plan, mid morning feeling dirty and sleepy.   They had limited water and only a very little left in the whole clinic.  so I took a bath with only about two gallons of water.  But then the water truck arrived and we were able to fill all the buckets and barrels.  I was at the clinic for about 8 days, three days longer than expected.  There were two births and a labour watch while I was there.  I got to so some more prenatals on my own, and spoke lots of Taglish, and was able to understand more than I thought I would, which means my language skills are improving still.
After two full weeks I arrived back in Tagaytay, where I was greeted warmly by both human and kitten.  It was good to be back.   my cat didn't let me out of his sight for the first 24 hours I was back.

 When I returned most of the girls were in Manila teaching at Vacation Bible school, when they returned it had been three weeks since I had seen some of them, since they were still on the missions trip when I left. It was so nice to be with them again.  Another  One of our residents went to the USA to share her story at several International Justice Mission gatherings.  She and her little daughter had a jam packed two weeks but they managed to have some fun as well.

On Other News
One of the churches I attend asked me to share at the Ushers ministry day retreat.  Their subject was connecting to people, so I shared about 30 minutes on my experiences with this.  It went well and it was nice to meet more people in the church.

That afternoon and the  next day  I helped a young woman in need, I won't go into details since this is a social media platform so for safety reasons I will say no more.  But I was thankful for anyone who had been praying for us during that time and for the strength that God gives.

When the situation had been resolved I returned to Safe exhausted but grateful.  However the kids were complaining that I had hardly been present lately and were sad to hear I would be going to Manila the next day for a free talk by Ravi Zacherias.  So before heading back to my place I spent a full hour playing Jenga and reading them stories.

The next morning I woke up at 3:30 AM and packed enough things for a possible overnight. 
I left for Manila at 4:30 AM and met ate Charisa, ate Grace and ate Red at a McDonalds in Manila, after scarfing down breakfast we began the journey to find the church where the talk was being held.  We finally made it. The talk was amazing! I soaked in every word Dr. Ravi Zacherias spoke, he is one of the leading people in Apologetics and speaks with incredible wisdom.  I was disappointed when he stopped talking, I honestly could have listened all day.  At the end of the talk I totally splurged and bought two of his books.

After eating some lunch (which was another adventure in trying to find a chinese noodle place)  ate Red and I went to chrislink to see about what was taking so long with my missionary visa.  Turned all we had to do was bring some papers in, fortunately ate Red happened to have those papers with her, so they made copies and then promised that the process can now begin.  With a thankful heart we left the building.  I decided I would head home that afternoon, ate Charisa and ate Grace were also going to Tagaytay that day but being unaware of how long they would be at the errands I headed to the bus station.  I had been praying the line would not be too long, but as most of us know, sometimes God answers our prayers with a no; the line up was the longest I had ever seen it.  Thankfully I had a book, the one I had bought earlier at the talk.   So I read as I slowly itched my way up the line.  an hour later I was on the bus! praise the Lord!  turned out I only just missed ate Charisa and ate Grace, they arrived back in Tagaytay about 20 minutes after me.

I went to Manila again for a day with ate Red to attend the first of a series of workshops with faith based non-profit organizations to come up with a good referral system between all of us.  It was really great, but I was tired after as I spent more time traveling than I did at the actual workshop :) most of that time being spent in line ups, an hour at the MRT and two hours in line for the bus home.  But I learned a lot of patience!
The next day I got to have some quality time with one of the residents we took advantage of the nice weather and sat on a blanket on the grass behind my house, we listened to the cicadas and talked through some things.  Language barriers are still hard but love is a universal language. 

Some randoms 
We finished our worship dance video with the girls! this is something we have been working towards for months, but have finally finished, at least the actual filming part, with crazy schedules we had to stop practicing for awhile and only recently resumed practice, I had also decided to add some choreography involving candle light dancing  I admit there was a moment, during filming when everyone's candles kept burning out and I was frantically lighting candles by the light of a flashlight and trying to get kids to keep still, hoping no one's hair was going to go up in flames and ate Charisa and ate Grace trying to get the actual dancing on film that I asked myself what I had been thinking adding things last minute!  But it looked pretty cool in the end, and I think everyone was happy about it.

We are looking and praying for a new building and land, whether we find a house already built or buy a lot to build on.  This is a challenging and expensive venture but we are praying God will provide in his timing, the house we are living in now, is falling apart in many ways, we only have one working toilet now for 14 residents including kids, a leaky roof, which we fixed but putting in a proper drain for when it rains and a floor that is chipping.


We celebrated Philippine Independence day, by making a cake and one of the girls decorated the national flag on it, you can see the video on my facebook page.

here a few photos from other moments in the last two month
                                                           
                   tea time!

      Pizza making competition                                          
                                                         mother's day card making

                                             watermelon birthday cake, that Meggie helped me make for our ate! she made the cake part, all on her own!

                                        I became an aunty again! meet my newest niece Emma Rose Alice Moilliet

And that brings us up to date but before I sign off I want to bring up a a project of our fellow brothers and sister in Christ. This project is not directly related to my ministry but it is close to my heart.  The Christian Church in Bugnay (the tribal village in Kalinga where the clinic has done a lot of outreaches) has been going through a building project for the  the last few years, as finances come in they do a little more each time.  It is a very old building and is in much need of renovations, it also is not big enough to hold its people, the last time I attended a service there several months ago, people were overflowing to the outside.  This is a wonderful blessing in its self but of course they want to be able to contain their members, especially in the rain.   In order to finish the renovations they still need several thousand dollars, (keep in mind Canadian dollars go much further in the Philippines) They are not a denomination so the only money that comes in is through individual or foreign supporters, it is a poor village so it is a challenge for them to raise the funds my themselves.  Anyway I just thought I would post that here in case anyone felt led to give.

If you feel inclined to you may give through a cheque to my church making to sure to "Philippines Mission, Bugnay Church" in the memo, or you can also send direct to me via e-transfer or my paypal account which you can find on my blog here.  However if you want a receipt you need to give through the church. my email is vmoilliet@gmail.com

Thankfulness
-Progress in getting my missionary visa
-God's provision, truly I have not felt in need at all since arriving, I have had freedom to take the girls provide and teach baking and other special treats.  And it is all because of the faithfulness of the givers for this ministry.
-For all that I am learning
-For the future ministry beginning to unfold

Prayer
-A new house for safe!
-For the future ministry in Tabuk
-For health for everyone here at Safe, just today two of our girls are feeling flue like and I am feeling my immune system fighting at something
-For the staff at Safe to be healthy both physically and emotionally
-Language (as always) :)

Thank you all for your prayers and support Many Blessings as you head into your summer! until next time.
thesheepishmidwife

Beginnings and Endings

I huddled against the window of the MRT car as it traveled easily along the rails and over the ever constant and sleepless traffic of Manila below.  I was leaving the laying-in clinic in Quazon behind after five busy days, where I tried hard to speak Tagalog during prenatals, help in the delivery room ect.  and soon (or in about four hours) I would leave the the giant city behind and be back in the less chaotic city of Tagaytay.  Despite the fact that as the crow flies Quazon and Tagaytay are not that far from each other, the world class bad traffic of the area and the fact I was traveling on a Saturday meant the trip would be close to 6 hours in total.  But as I watched the passing city streets, high rises, and homes made of tin and old cloth I couldn't help feeling a sense of pride that I was actually able to travel through this huge and very diverse city all on my own.  It shocked no one more than myself.  The country girl who grew up in the middle of nowhere, who vowed she would never live in the city and whom is known to have a poor sense of direction when it comes to any city, was actually becoming slightly familiar with the 18th biggest city in the world, and able to maneuver the public transportation it provided.   As the stops continued and the minutes ticked by I reflected further (since there is not much else to do) of all I had learned over the last five months and all I still needed to learn in this missionary life, and although life has found a new normalcy in it I also feel I need to pinch myself every once in awhile to really believe that I am truly here, being a full time missionary...a full time long term missionary with no end date in sight at this time.  Finally the city rail line came to its last stop, where I allowed myself to get swept along with the large crowd and made my way to the buses.  The type of bus that I was taking would take me out of Manila and back to Tagaytay but because it was Saturday the line up for the bus was massive! I waited nearly an hour before I got ushered into one of the buses and was very thankful I got a seat and wasn't stuffed into the isle to stand for the long bus ride.  By the time I arrived back in Tagaytay, I was incredibly exhausted but happy to be home....

Hello all! I hope you are doing well as you spring into spring, I hear its been a bit of a late winter in parts of Canada and the USA I know the appropriate response would be "I'm sorry," but the truth is I still think of cold weather with a longing, especially now that we are in our Filipino summer, a time of year I admit I don't really have a love for.  The Moilliet blood that runs in my veins contributes to the fact that I do not do very well in the heat, especially the intense tropical heat that feel like it want to kill whoever steps out in its rays of sun.  I have heard many people say "how do you handle it?" I always find this sort of humorous, as the answer to this is simple...there is no other choice.    However living in Tagaytay means the summer is much more mild than Manila or even Tabuk, the evenings are still cool and there is a breeze in the afternoon, which is just heaven.  Summer is also a great time for my favorite Filipino dessert, Halo-halo, which involves a lot of shaved ice, and as its name says (mix-mix) is filled with all sorts of stuff from fruit, condensed milk, ube, even corn and beans (not green).  I know, I know for the North Americans listening, you are thinking it sounds odd, but it is AMAZING and it has this wonderful cooling effect, on hot afternoons.  When I am grumpy from constantly being sticky and uncomfortable it has a way of calming my whole being.  Summer will also bring a school break for the girls, something they are in much need of.  They have been very busy with their assignments and classes and they deserve a good break from their long year.  I am a hoping to be able have some quality time with the girls over the school break.  Later in the summer (at the end of April) I am planning another trip to Kalinga, where I will attend a friend's wedding and be able to meet with the social worker who is interested in the future shelter in Tabuk.

The last few weeks have been very busy, which is good, as that is what I have been hoping for. I have been given some more responsibility at Safe including some of the handling of the money.   All the new responsibility has allowed me to learn lots in a very short time.

Ate Naomi. her husband Andy and their baby Andrew along with a friend, Maddie, all came out for 19 days, those days went by very fast!  It was so wonderful finally getting to meet Naomi.  As predicted she is a wonderful human being with a heart full of love and joy and eagerness to love everyone she meets.  We got to have some great talks and were able to connect and communicate about my future at safe and a little of the further future of Ellora and mine's dream to begin a shelter in Tabuk.  She spent lots of time encouraging me and I truly felt a happy heart as she made sure I knew that she was thankful I was here.


With Naomi's arrival we got to go on some outings, one was to these calming falls and pools right in the city where one can swim in the fresh clean water among the tropical trees.  It was so beautiful.  It was wonderful for Chesa for and Emma as they are both very good swimmers and since they struggle with doing many things other people can do being able to swim and even jump off the rocks above into the deep pool below brought absolute joy to them.  Some of the girls (usually the ones who have lived in Manila all their lives) didn't know how to swim and so stayed in the Shallow parts.  But Maddie and I taught two of them the basics so that by the end of the day they were able to swim a little on their own. ( though I must give full credit to Maddie here as she is an actual swimming teacher and very good at it, she had them grasping the concept pretty quick) The only problem was that it wasn't really a hot day (yes even the Philippines gets cool days) but we were all determined to swim anyway, but I think I got pretty chilled that day as the next day I came down with a horrid cold, and it took me almost a week to get over it.  But it was all worth it!!
    We also went to Taal Mountain! which is famous because...wait for it.. its the smallest known active volcano in the world.  And yes its an actual mountain!  it took us about an hour to hike.  At the very top one can see some steam coming out of certain pockets around the lake which is in the center of the mountain.  One of the ways they describe it is, an island within a lake, within an island within a lake.  Since there is a small lake within the crater lake and the mountain is on an island which is also in a lake.  They also treated us to pizza twice! which was amazing! and bought a brand new tv so we don't have to use lap tops when we want to watch movies, and we can watch news so I can see whats happening in the world.  We celebrated Valentines day, Ate Naomi made the day special for everyone, we made red pancakes for our afternoon snack, Kuya Andy gave out a candy rose to everyone, it made us all feel special. 
                                     
    one of our staff meetings (minus Ate Charisa) with Ate Naomi, ( she is in the back with her husband and son)

                                                Swimming in the falls

                            Fun photos on our outing (l-r) with Ate Red, ate Rosanna, Me, and and Charisa

                                                          About to get on the boat to cross the Lake to Taal mountain

          Taal Mountain                                                             At the crater of Taal

                                                 Valentine's day treats

Helping Emma with her Valentines project 

After Ate Naomi and her family left, I went to Quezon city for 5 days. (as mentioned above) One of the midwives was going out of town and the other midwife is on rest which left Jane, the live in midwife to handle everything.  So I arrived on a Monday evening to help for the week.  We had three births!! Two of them that night.  Finally we were actually a little busy while I was there, the last baby I got to help catch, which was great! I also did some prenatals on my own, which I was nervous about due to my poor Tagalog, but we managed! and on the day I had a lady come in who spoke very little English I had someone there to translate.  it feels good to be able to do prenatals as a midwife and not as a student and to be able to say "Midwife ako" (I am a Midwife). 
                                                         
                                                       The baby girl I helped catch right after I did her exam, judging from my appearance, one can tell, it was an early morning entrance

I have been making myself make connections outside of Safe Refuge.  It has taken me awhile to do this, as I would much rather just focus on the ministry and make that my whole life and not have other relationships to distract me.  But I know thats not really healthy, and I know I need to make friends outside the ministry.  It has happened Naturally in Quazon city where I am forming lots of friendships but I knew I needed some friendships in Tagaytay.  So I got connected with a girl named Aicah at church whom is only a few years my senior and we have started hanging out together, discussing spiritual things and such, and through her I have started meeting other young Christian ladies.  This has been really good and I feel God's hand in bringing these friendships about, and am very thankful for all these wonderful ladies.  I even attended an event at one of the churches I attend, which I would not have done if not for Aicah.  It was a sort of seminar on singleness.  I was a little worried it was going to be a match making thing, but it wasn't at all, it was really good, and some of the best teachings on singlehood for Christians that I have heard.  About learning to be content and satisfied in your signlehood but also some practical steps on maneuvering through early relationships.  After, Aicah and went out with some other singles and we ate Korean food and further discussed the subject, I felt so refreshed after and so thankful to be able to discuss a topic that is very real for us single Christian ladies.

Birthdays
I turned 27 on the 8th! my twenties are whizzing by and I know my thirties and forties will go even faster...which is a depressing thought but is also useless to dwell on it unless I remind myself its that much closer to Heaven.  (There is a reason for these thoughts which I will get to in a minute) Everyone at Safe made me feel very special.  I went to see the movie Captain Mavel with ate Rosanna, (a supporter of Safe and former staff member) and her daughter, the movie was so good!! I got that floaty happy feeling, which always tells me that all my senses enjoyed the feature.  In the evening Ate Rosanna had made two cakes, one for and one me and one for the other March birthday, Meggie.  So we ate cake, and this amazing Pasta!! I received birthday wishes (thank you facebook) from Canada, Spain, Japan, and the Philippines and I think the USA.  The next day I got calls from most of my siblings which was really wonderful!  Although Meggie celibrated her birthday with me, on her actual birthday, March 18th I wanted to do something special, so I made natchos, and Ate Charisa's friend was here at the time and she made a kind of meat role which so good!! she also bought some sparkling Welches grape juice.

 



 On March 10, which was March 9th in Canadian time, My grandpa, Richard Don Scruggs 93 who has been living with dementia for the last few years passed into Glory with my grandma and cousins by his side.

                                           One of the last pictures with my Grandpa

Although this was not unexpected and none of us (including him) felt he was taken before his time, it still brought many tears, to be honest much more than I expected.  Not because I didn't love him as much as a grand-daughter possibly could, but because I would much rather him be with His father in heaven, with a clear mind, and out of pain then suffering on earth.  I had also been preparing myself for this for years, with a very practical mindset, so I was surprised as how much I cried when I found out.  But I guess its because its always hard to say goodbye to someone, since we are not designed to say goodbye.  We are designed to be united forever in eternity.  And although there are teas of grief, there are also tears of joy and celebration of his beautiful life and beautiful legacy.  His funeral was live streamed on facebook and I logged in at 3:00 AM to watch it in real time where it was happening at 1 PM Alberta time.  I pretty much cried through the whole thing, I didn't even know I had more tears to shed.  Some of the tears were for the fact that I was crying as the only Moilliet/Scruggs in the country instead of being beside my family.  My older brother shared a memory for me though, which was special and made me feel close.  It was really special being able to watch it all in live time.  But watching the funeral brought on an intense amount of homesickness, I wanted to be there with everyone so badly, eating with them, laughing and crying together, sometimes homesickness can be so intense it takes your breath away, but I would not wish it away, because it is that feeling that makes me feel close to my family and my first home country.  So that as well as my birthday has brought on a lot of sentimental thought about time, hence the depressing note on how fast time goes by.


A few metionables; Some staff members and I completed a massive project.  We planned to make the office into a study room and book area, and move the office to where we will share the Beautiful Refuge shope.  We recently received a bunch of donated things from Naomi which we sorted and distributed as needed.  It took three days to make the switch! One day organizing the donated items, and making plans.  The following week we spent another day cleaning and further organizing items in both rooms,  The next day was our biggest day yet, we finished what we started on day two and moved furniture around, did more cleaning sorted books, threw things away, organized and so on.  In the end we donated three big boxes and some old books and I think there may have been some other begs, to the community.  It was a great way to share some of the blessings we receive. Last week I realized that Safe really needed another storage unit, so I decided I was going to donate one, I bought a tall sturdy metal rack for around 70 dollars and it has proved very helpful, especially in the final days of organizing.  Thanks to all my supporters who allowed me to have extra cash to pay for it.  I was so exhausted by the end of this project that I collapsed at a little after 4 PM on the final day. I woke up just before 5:30,  I dragged myself back over to Safe but was so tired I thought I would have to go back to bed.  But I woke up after doing some math flash cards with two of the kids.  I then handed out the school allowance for the next day, after supper Ate Red and I went out to buy some medicine for one of the residents, we left at around 8 PM almost didn't get the medicine as the first drug store we went to were out of stock for one type and said we would have to go to the other branch which closed in a few minute.  Frantically we grabbed a tricy which took us to the mall, it seemed the tricy drover over charged us but we were in such a hurry there was no time to argue, we ran through the mall and made it the drug store just in time! We got back a little after 9 PM and I recorded all the expenses which took me to about 10 PM,  When I finally made it to bed that night. I fell asleep in minutes.


                   Cleaning and sorting, final product of study room seen below with the new rack

            

    

                                                                                           

 One of ate Carissa's friends was here for a few days, she taught a poetry workshop, it was very moving and helped the girls to open up.  Many of them are clearly natural poets.  I took part as well, and I realized how much I love poetry and was happy to be able to learn and practice more.  I haven't written a poem in awhile and it felt good.

PJ is doing well! Growing well, though when I was away for 5 days I was told he barely ate and it was clear he had lost weight.  I am hoping the next time I go away he won't get so depressed.  He really gives me a lot of of Joy and I am always so thankful that God brought Him to my door, he is proving to be a great comfort when I am feeling sad or homesick.  There is something so very therapeutic about animals.

Baking continues to be a hit!!

The other week ate Hermy took my to People's Park, it shows an amazing view of the whole city!

A friend of ate Rosanna gave a bunch of strawberry plants which we transplanted in our little backyard

Language update
Language is still much slower than I would like, but there is improvement especially when I stop to realize that I can start forming my own sentences now that actually make sense, which is very exciting.  I am still having a hard time following someone who is speaking straight Tagalog (as apposed to Taglish, which is an actual thing).  Although I am able to pick up some sentences and words if I focus really hard I find it hard to put it all together in time to keep up with the speaker.  Other times it seems no matter how hard I focus I can't seen to make sense of anything.  As I mentioned above going to the clinic helps my Tagalog a lot.  It forces me to speak Tagalog and to decipher it, but by the end of the last 5 days I  was there I was so exhausted from Speaking and trying to listen that when I was in the line up to the buses on my way home I went to buy a beg of chips and Sprite and tried to get out the work Magkaano ("how much" in Tagalog) but the word that came out was "Mano" ("how much" in Ilocano) I scrambled to try and correct myself back to Tagalog but the lady exclaimed "Oh Ilocano"
"You are Ilocano?" I asked
"Yes" she answered and I was so relieved, even though I think my Tagalog is now more than my Ilocano  (although I think I still know more birth language in Ilocano) there are many words that I am more comfortable with and used so often in Tabuk that I always resort to those.   I have had many moments where I cannot get the English words out Or find the right vocabulary for Tagalog the result is that I sometimes go mute when I need to answer someone. Last night someone asked me a question and the English words all bumped into each other.  So instead I took a deep breath and formed a very ill grammar-ed sentence of Tagalog to explain.  So I figured that's a good sign :)

So, that's some of the highlights from the last several weeks.
\as far as the internal things...

I am surprised at how much I feel I have grown and learned in the last 5 months.  And the last few weeks as mentioned already have been a lot busier,  I feel that my confidence and assertiveness is increasing, I realized that this is something that must increase for work in the mission field.  God has been teaching me a lot and the learning process happening at Safe is massive.  I have mixed emotions about the increased business, I love that my days feel fuller and I feel that I am really becoming a part of things but I sometimes I feel its harder to spend more time with the girls, I haven't even really been able to go running with them at the jogging oval, which was something I had more freedom to do before. I am hoping that as these weeks of transition into my new role settle down, it will be easier. 
There are always lots of emotions in this ministry, and the adjustment process is on-gonig, Though I do feel I am adjusting much faster than I did in Tabuk, which makes sense as this is my second go at Missions in the Philippines.  But there are still lots of ups and downs.  Also, the approaching month is the time of year my homesickness goes up several notches, April is our lambing season at home, and is my favorite time of year, Sometimes I miss home more during this time than Christmas.  In Tabuk  it was helpful having Babies to deliver to distract me, allowing myself to take pleasure in that I could at least still be around birth, but I won't have any babies to deliver in April as I have no plans to go to the clinic until May.  However with Summer and increased activities with the girls I will probably be busy enough to at least be a little distracted.   But God is good and He gives me strength, His Faithfulness is constant and ever true.

As a whole I think things are going very well, I really love these girls and love this ministry and know this is where God wants me to be. 

Well, Its time to bring this very long post to a close and go over prayer requests and thank you's.



Thank you
-For God's sustenance
-For new relationships
-For the new learning curves

Requests
-Language
-Wisdom
-Boldness
-Still praying for a new computer
-Patience

As always thank you all for your prayers and support! and remember you can always follow Safe refuge on facebook or instagram, where you will get daily updates and pictures.
 Signing off
thesheepishmidwife